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TTC contracts out intercity coach terminal

Greyhound and Coach Canada will now run the bus station at Bay and Dundas for the TTC, which owns the building.

Passengers wait in line for an intercity bus at the Toronto Coach Terminal. (Lucas Oleniuk / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

By Tess KalinowskiTransportation Reporter

Fri., Aug. 10, 2012

The TTC has divested itself of one of the less traditional branches of its business, contracting out the operation of the Toronto intercity coach terminal to the bus companies that use it.

Most Torontonians probably don’t realize the TTC has owned and operated the bus station at Bay and Dundas Sts. since the 1990s. It’s a vestige of the transit commission’s former ownership of the Gray Coach intercity bus service, which included an interest in a charter airline.

The bus companies have been paying the TTC in platform fees and a commission on Toronto ticket sales, a growing percentage of which are being sold online by the bus companies rather than through the TTC workers at the station.

“Some years we made $700,000 — but generally speaking it broke even,” said Vince Rodo, the TTC’s chief financial and administrative officer.

But to stem the potential for losses as the online market grows, the TTC last month contracted out the terminal’s operations to a partnership run by Coach Canada and Greyhound. The 24 TTC ticket sellers and other staff have retired or been absorbed into other transit jobs.

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In exchange, the transit system received platform fees and a commission on Toronto ticket sales, Rodo said.

So, as part of a review of its overall operations, including the potential to contract out bus-cleaning and other services, the TTC decided it made more sense to let the bus companies take over, a move the coach operators had been seeking for years.

“The contract requires they pay us $1.2 million a year and specifies the terminal be maintained at the same quality,” Rodo said.

The five-year deal allows the coach operators and Metrolinx time to work out an arrangement if the current plan to open a new coach terminal is realized.

Metrolinx wants to relocate intercity buses near Union Station, potentially linking the facility with GO Transit. But it won’t say how close it is to finalizing a deal.

“We’re in the process of looking at several locations. This process involves commercially sensitive and confidential discussions, so we’re not able to comment further,” said spokeswoman Vanessa Thomas.

The intercity bus companies say taking over the terminal makes sense for them.

“We have direct contact with the customers, our passengers. We can cater to their needs and requirements and make sure what we’re offering them is a high-quality service from the minute they walk in the door, purchasing a ticket, getting on a bus,” said John Emberson, president of Coach Canada, which runs about 27 buses a day out of the Bay St. terminal.

Improvements are already underway, including new separate ticket lines for Greyhound and Coach Canada.

“If you’re looking for a ticket from Coach Canada, you can go right up our line to purchase a ticket from somebody who knows everything about our schedules,” he said.

Greyhound spokesman Timothy Stokes said his company sees it the same way.

“It allows us to provide service with our own employees as well as utilize our own ticket system,” he said.

If intercity bus operations move from the Bay St. terminal, it would probably be deemed surplus by the TTC and go to the city for potential redevelopment.

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